Submit to Voiceworks!

About

Voiceworks is a national literary journal, featuring new fiction, nonfiction, poetry, visual art and comics by Australians under the age of 25. Voiceworks is produced entirely by people yet to hit the quarter-century mark and relies on contributions from readers to make up its content. Each selected piece goes through a collaborative editing process, and individualised feedback is provided for all unsuccessful written submissions. All published contributors are paid for their work.

What we’re looking for

The best way to get a sense of the kinds of work we publish is to read Voiceworks! You can get yourself a copy by ordering it online, subscribing or by looking for it at your local or school library or one of these stockists.

Voiceworks publishes a varied selection of short stories, poems, nonfiction, art and comics. We’re keen to read more experimental writing—think stylistically playful stuff, and work that blurs the boundaries between nonfiction, fiction and poetry.

We’re always on the lookout for writing in all of these forms, but we’re especially keen for more nonfiction submissions. We get far more people sending us fiction and poetry than nonfiction. This means we want to read more of it, and frankly your odds of publication are better if you send us some. This doesn’t mean we compromise on the standard of nonfiction we publish—it needs to have a specific angle and offer some sort of insight, whether that’s a keen interest in researching something, expert knowledge on a topic, a unique experience or perspective, or a combination of these things. We recommend you pitch your nonfiction before sending it to us, especially if you’re not sure if your piece appropriate, or what you want to do with it. Pitching is our chance to help you out before you submit. So before you send us your work, we (strongly) urge you to read our handy nonfiction guide on how to construct your pitch and write good nonfiction in general.

The same goes for art and comics—we receive fewer art submissions than in written categories, and want to publish more of it inside Voiceworks. But before you send it our way, be sure to flip through a copy of the mag to make sure your work is suited to the page dimensions, colour limitations and design specifications of Voiceworks.

Current Theme: Slug

Is it terrestrial? It slopes across the screen, sensory and sniffing needles darting around the LED display. In its wake, a dancing thick goo obstructing. URL just ‘oogl.com/document/DragonBallZVillians.’ There’s a shimmer, a slick of light. It’s hard to trace, shifting with her eyes. It doesn’t begin or end. She sits watching it, mezmerised. Oogle oogle oogle oogle. Waiting, avoiding, waiting, avoiding. She rocks back on her chair and stares out the window. Pinstripes. SWING. A burst of colour. Fingers outstretched. It squelches into the grass. The terrestrial on the screen. The glimmer still distracts, spots dancing over her eyes, over the screen. Oogle oogle oogle oogle. She feels petrol station light-headed. That slick of light is the reason Scully and Mulder exist. ‘You alright?’ ‘Yes I just need to figure out the right combination.’ The keyboard is hiding the answer. UP UP DOWN DOWN LEFT RIGHT LEFT RIGHT.

~Thanks to EdCommers Dani Leever and Catherine Treloar for the blurb~

Remember, you don’t have to stick to it. Our themes are a prompt more than anything else—a springboard to get the creative ideas flowing. Most of all, we just want good work. Our motto is…

Themed work: good

Good work: better

Good themed work: best

Print Guidelines

Voiceworks accepts fiction, poetry, nonfiction, art and comics, but before you send your work our way, here are some rules:

We are only able to publish writers and artists who are under the age of 25 (that is, 24 and under) at the time of submission.

We only accept work by people living in Australia (including international students) or by Australians living overseas.

We only consider previously unpublished work.

Each category has its own submission page with specific guidelines, but here are the basics:

Fiction: send no more than two stories, each no more than 3,000 words.

Poetry: send no more than three poems, each no more than 100 lines. We recommend reading our poetry guide here before sending us your work.

Nonfiction: we recommend that you pitch your nonfiction work before sending it to us. Head here for advice on how to construct your pitch and write good nonfiction. For completed work, send no more than two pieces, each no more than 3,000 words.

Art and comics: please keep in mind, we print in duotone (only two colours of ink) and our page dimensions are 170 x 245 mm. We recommend you pitch your comics before sending them to us. For advice on how to pitch your comics, check out our handy guide here. Please send no more than three artworks or comics.

We encourage you to submit across genres, but please send us no more than four submissions in total (excluding comics and art).

Deadlines

Nonfiction pitches—Sunday 30th December, 11:59pm

Fiction, completed nonfiction and poetry—Sunday 6th January 11:59pm

Rates of pay

$100 for written work and art

$150 for multi-page comics or suites of art

You’ll find further details on each category by following the link below. Please read the information carefully and contactVoiceworks Editor Mira Schlosberg if you have any questions or concerns. Alrighty then, it’s time to submit!

Voiceworks is largely produced and edited on the lands of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin nation. As a national publication, we pay our respects to the traditional custodians of all the lands from which our stories and artwork were sourced and acknowledge that this has always been and will always be Aboriginal land.